tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post115592350921828718..comments2024-01-06T07:53:11.832-08:00Comments on disabled Christianity: The "embarrassment" of disabilityJeff McNairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10029386598033932429noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post-1158800523374516972006-09-20T18:02:00.000-07:002006-09-20T18:02:00.000-07:00Mr. McNair, I also have had two friends that hav...Mr. McNair,<BR/> I also have had two friends that have been a part of pre-natal testing, both of which were advised to abort their babies because of the possibility of disease. The first was a friend who was told that her baby would have DS. Her doctors insisted that she abort the baby since "she would never be able to live a normal life with a child with those kind of problems." However, she insisted on having the baby and her son is now 11 with no problems whatsoever. My question is how could the doctors have been so wrong? How many women have aborted their children per doctors' request?<BR/> My other friend was told that her baby would not live past 1 year because of a disease (forgot what it is called) where the baby's intestines are outside of his body. She went ahead with the pregnancy and gave birth to a son who indeed had problems. Unfortunately her son passed away two weeks ago at 6 months old. My friend has said that she would cherish those months and is so glad that she did not have an abortion just because her son was sick. <BR/> I think that for some women the easy way out is just to abort a child because of pre-natal testing. Unfortunately, these women are missing out on a life with a child that would have been a challenge, yes, but also special and wonderful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6825243.post-1157608597729616372006-09-06T22:56:00.000-07:002006-09-06T22:56:00.000-07:00Mr. McNair, I have three relatively personal exper...Mr. McNair, I have three relatively personal experiences in the area of pre-natal testing. First, my sister, being over 35 and pregnant was tested for many things and found she is a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. Both parents have to be carriers for the disease to have a chance of being present in a child but her husband refused to be tested on the basis of not doing anything diferently in terms of the pregnancy even if he was a carrier. The baby was born and lived very healthily for 4 months. At 6 months she had not gained any weight and by 8 months had been hospitalized 4 times with pneumonia. After several grueling weeks of tests and hospital visits, the baby was diagnosed with CF. She is doing very well now, at a year and a half, because she is getting very good care but I feel that if they had known about it earlier, they could have prevented so many months of discomfort and stress for both the parents and the baby. Even though he would not have done anything different about the pregnancy, I think it was a bit selfish of the father to think that fidning out if something may be wrong wasnt worth anything. They could have been far more prepared and less traumatized, in my opinion.<BR/>Second is my husband's sister in law. They knew, very early on that something was not right with their unborn baby; something very serious that no one seemed to know for sure about but, of course carried it full term. He was born with so many phisical problems that he only lived three days. But they, and their other 3 children, cherrished him for those 3 days in the hospital. He is a part of thier family and they have had another child and are expecting one more in the spring.<BR/>The last is my sister's Husband's sister. Her baby's skull did not develop. She knew this from the ultrasounds and she carried him full term. He lived for an hour and I know they were grateful to have that hour.<BR/>In each of these cases thier church families (they all belong to the same church as I do) supported them in thier times of need. <BR/>I am trying to be the kind of person who treats all people kindly without pre judging. I believe am part of the 14%, and I will make an even bigger effort to embrace all people as children of God because it has been brought to my attention.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com